Verizon Wireless on Friday released a class-leading smartphone that combines two of the biggest cell phone brands of the past decade into a single device. Verizon’s DROID line of smartphones played a huge role in making Android the global juggernaut it is today, and Motorola’s RAZR turned the wireless industry on its head in 2004, showing consumers that a cell phone can be both beautiful and functional. The decision to merge these brands into one single powerhouse was not made lightly, we can assure you, and the DROID RAZR will undoubtedly find itself atop plenty of wish-lists this holiday season. We recently sat down with Alain Mutricy, Motorola Mobility’s senior vice president of Portfolio and Product Management, to discuss this iconic device and why it is worthy of carrying the RAZR brand into the future. The full text from our Q&A with Mutricy follows below. More →

Motorola’s senior vice president of portfolio and product management Alain Mutricy confirmed on Wednesday that the DROID RAZR, announced Tuesday for Verizon Wireless, will receive an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update early next year. Mutricy explained that the phone was designed to run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), which will be installed when it hits the market, but that Motorola has already created a time frame for an Android 4.0 roll-out, Pocket-lint said. Without support for NFC, however, features such as Android Beam will not be operational. The DROID RAZR is equipped with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, a large Super AMOLED Advanced display with a qHD resolution, an 8-megapixel camera and support for Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network. Pre-orders for the phone begin on October 27th and it will be available in stores in November for $299.99 with a new two-year contract. More →